This invention relates to a system for automatically assembling a tape cassette having a pair of reel hubs received in a cassette housing formed of a pair of upper and lower cassette housing halves and a magnetic tape stretched across both reel hubs.
Where the above-mentioned type of tape cassette is automatically assembled, customary practice is to insert first a linear sheet and then a pair of reel hubs and a pair of guide rollers into one upturned cassette housing half, stretch a magnetic tape across the paired reel hubs, fit a pad spring and another liner sheet into said upturned housing half, put the other cassette housing half on said upturned housing half, and finally fix both cassette housing halves together by proper means, for example, screws.
Where, with the above-mentioned assembling process, an attempt is made to stretch a magnetic tape across the reel hubs, the upright peripheral walls of the lower cassette housing half hinders this stretching operation, presenting great difficulties in effecting the fully automatic assembly of a tape cassette. To date, therefore, a magnetic tape previously wounded about the reel hubs has been manually loaded into a cassette housing half placed on an assembly line, consuming a great deal of time and requiring a considerable number of workers in constructing a tape cassette.